Bottle



Sept. 24, 1940. E. TERRELL 2,215,942

BOTTLE Filed April 17, 1939 INVENTOR BY EDWARD TERRELL ATTORNEYSPatented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES BOTTLE Edward Terrell, London,England Application April 1'7, 1939, Serial No. 268,431 In Great BritainMay 2, 1938 3 Claims. (01. 120-57) This invention relates to bottles forink and has particular although not exclusive reference to theproduction ofan improved form of glass bottle adapted to contain ink forthe filling of fountain pens.

Bottles in which fountain pen ink is sold are frequently formed in suchmanner that, as the ink level falls, the bottle can be turned or tiltedtoa position in which a greater depth of ink with smaller surface areais available in order to enable as much of the ink as possible to beused. As bottles of this character are thrown away when emptied, by theuser, the cost of manufacture must be relatively small in proportion tothe value of the ink which they contain and for this reason designswhich might operate satisfactorily in enabling the maximum quantity ofink to be withdrawn from them by the actions of fountain pen filling areso expensive to manufacture that their commercial adoption isimpossible.

Bottles or ink wells have been proposed which include two compartmentsof unequal capacity divided by a partition extending upwards from thebase but in these prior constructions the partition has not beendisposed beneath the neck or opening and consequently these bottles orink wells have not been capable of manufacture by blowing in oneoperation and do not lend themselves to mass production methods ofmanufac- .30 tllI'B.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved form ofbottle which is designed to enable all but the smallest quantity of inkcontained in it to be used by fountain pen filling and which can bemanufactured by blowing it in glass in moulds, the design therebylending itself to mass production methods.

According to the present invention an ink bottle is provided theinterior of which is divided 40 into two compartments by a partitionextending upwards from the base and constituted by two mutually inclinedsurfaces meeting beneath the neck or opening to enable the bottle to beblown in moulds.

p The invention also consists in a glass ink bottle divided into twocompartments by a partition extending in a direction perpendicular tothe 7 base and positioned beneath the neck or opening through which apen is inserted for filling.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawing which illustratesby way of example constructions according tothe invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of the improved bottle,

as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig.2 is a plan of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. l,

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of construction,

height thereof or sufficiently high to cause the ink in each compartmenta and b, when filled, to be of sufiicient depth to enable a fountainpento be filled from either compartment. The construction of the bottleis such that when originally charged with inka fountain pen can befilled by dipping into the general body of ink above the partition andas the level of ink falls during use a pen can be filledby dipping intoeither compart- ;ment and finally into the compartment a. only.

The partition 0 extends across the width of the bottle as shown in thesectional plan, Fig. 3, and

is disposed below the neck or opening e preferably centrally thereof.The bottle illustrated is designed for manufacture by blowing in oneoperation ina mould and to this end the partition is hollow and formedwith mutually inclined sides This feature of the design of the bottleserves four purposes. Firstly, it enables a partition to be formedduring the blowing operation; secondly, it facilitates the transfer ofink, when required, from the larger compartment 1) to the smallercompartment a; thirdly, the inclined wall of the compartment orsubstantially reduces the capacity of the base of the compartment andthereby reduces the quantity of ink which must finally be wasted to verysmall proportions, and fourthly the arrangement of the partition enablesa pen to be filled from either side as already described until the fallin level of the ink renders it necessary to concentrate the residue ofink in the smaller compartment.

It is of great importance that the partition 0 can be blown integralwith the bottle as to insert a partition as a separate element wouldentail such difficulty and expense as to render the bottle commerciallyuseless. Further, by having the partition 0 approximately central to theopeninge the bottle can be blown with compartment b larger thancompartment aas shown, as the partition is formed by the shape of themould base and thereafter the air entering through the opening e isdivided thereby and flows in divergent directions to ensure the glassfilling the mould. If the mould were to be constructed to produce thepartition 0 at one side of the opening 2 eX- perience has shown that theabsence of means to divide the incoming air will result in there beinginsufficient air pressure available to form the compartment 1).

The capacity of the smaller compartment a can be still further reducedby tapering the bottle in plan as shown at f in Figs. 2 and 3.

In the use of the bottle formed as above described a fountain pen isfilled,after removing the cork, cap or stopper from the opening e and bydipping the pen above or on either side of the partition 0. Thisprocedure can be followed for as long as the ink level is above orcoincident with the upper edge of the partition but as the ink is usedthe'level in the bottle falls to a point at which a substantial quantityof ink is available but of a depth insufficient to enable a pen to befilled. The bottle is then tilted to cause ink to flow over thepartition from the reservoir b to the compartment a which will thencontain ink of a depth sufiicient to cover the nib and a small part ofthe pen barrel to enable the filling operation to be performedsatisfactorily without the fountain pen sucking in air and without thenecessity of tilting the bottle during the process of filling the pen.

The tilting, operation can be repeated from time to time until thereservoir 1) is empty and when the ink in compartment a is reduced to alevel at which a fountain pen can no longer be filled the quantity ofink remaining is so small as to be negligible.

The construction illustrated Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is designed moreparticularly for production by mechanically operated glass blowingapparatus. In this form of the invention the central transversepartition g is of similar form to the partition 0 already described anddivides the interior of the bottle into two compartments h and 2' ofequal capacity either of which can be used to contain the ink when thelevel has fallen below the top of the partition g. The curved ends ofthe bottle in conjunction with the inclined walls I of the partitioncause the formation of a base to each compartment of very small capacityso that after all the ink has been concentrated in either compartmentand the level of ink in that compartment has fallen too low to enable apen to be filled the residue remaining is negligible. This constructionembodies the advantages already described with reference to Figs. 1-3 inthat when ink has been concentrated in one compartment a pen can befilled without sucking in air and without the necessity for tilting thebottle during the pen filling operation. i

The partition employed in either form of the invention above describedis preferably formed with the ridge between the two mutually inclinedsurfaces rounded for the purpose of preventing damage to the point of apen nib.

I claim:

1. An ink bottle divided into two compartments by a partition extendingupwards from the base and constituted by two mutually inclined surfacesmeeting centrally beneath the opening of the bot-tle, said inclinedsurfaces providing passages between them and the bottle openingsufficient for the insertion of a fountain pen into a position to dipinto the base of the bottle at either side of said partition.

Z. An ink bottle for fountain pen filling having a neck in the topthereof provided with an axial opening, and a partition projectingupwardly from the bottom and extending between and connecting oppositesides of the bottle and dividing the bottle into separate compartments,the sides of said partition being inclined upwardly toward one anotherand meeting directly beneath and in axial alinement with the opening inthe neck and being spaced from the lower end of the neck sufficientlyfor the passage of a fountain pen to the bottom of the bottle at eitherside of the partition.

3. A. moldedglass ink bottle having, formed integrally therewith, a neckin the top thereof provided with an axial opening, and a partitionprojecting upwardly from the bottom and extending transversely betweenand connecting opposite sides of the bottle and dividing the bottle intoseparate compartments of equal capacity, the sides of said partitionbeing inclined upwardly toward one another and meeting in a transverseridge located centrally beneath the opening in the neck, and theinclined sides and ridge of the partition being spaced from the lowerend of the neck suiiiciently to admit a fountain pen to the bottom ofthe bottle at either side of the partition. I

EDWARD TERRELL.

